Lessons for topic Idioms

In the first installment of Tu Voz Estéreo, our brand new series from Colombia, we hear a conversation between two not very pleasant characters who are planning to steal a guide dog (ಠ_ಠ!) from his blind owner:

Ay, pero ¿cómo y de cuándo acá nos gustan tanto los perros? Oh, but how and since when do we like dogs so much? Caption 31, Tu Voz Estéreo - Laura - Part 1

The idiom de cuándo acá (since when) is a rhetorical question. In Spanish, asking ¿Desde cuándo te gustan los perros? is not the same as saying ¿De cuándo acá te gustan los perros? The first one is a simple question, while the second one is asked in order to create a dramatic effect of surprise, outrage, disbelief, or disapproval:

There are different ways to translate the English expression "how come?" into Spanish. As a standalone expression, you can use questions such as ¿cómo es eso? (literally "how is that"), ¿cómo así? (literally "how this way"), ¿cómo? (how), or ¿por qué? (why). It's important to add a special emphasis to the way you pronounce these questions:

The present subjunctive of the verb ser is the same in the first- and third-person singular: sea. This little word is used profusely in Spanish for the most varied purposes. Let's explore and learn a few.

The first person yo (I) uses sea. You can use it to express other people's wishes or expectations placed on you:

Quieres que [yo] sea cuidadosa You want me to be cautious

or to deny hypothetic situations or conditions:

No es que yo sea mala... It's not that I'm bad...

The third person (he, she, it) also uses sea. Here are examples using sea to talk about people (he, she). The tricky part is that Spanish usually gets rid of the pronouns él or ella, so you will only hear or see the verb sea.

However, the use of sea extends far beyond that in Spanish. Many idiomatic expressions use it. For example, the expression sea lo que is used to express fatalistic sentiments. Use this model phrase to learn it: sea + lo que dios mande (literally, let it be what God commands). Note that it uses subjunctive plus subjunctive:

Que sea lo que dios mandeLet it be God's will.

Of course, it's possible to get rid of the pronoun que (that) and combine the phrase with a different verb, like querer (to want):